


For You I Will

by raspberrybonbon



Category: Dorohedoro
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Humor, Blood and Gore, F/M, Flashbacks, Friends to Lovers, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, What-If
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:07:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26979316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raspberrybonbon/pseuds/raspberrybonbon
Summary: Kaiman doesn't die to En's attack and goes on a mission with Kawajiri to rescue Nikaido for a second time while simultaneously dealing with his most recent addition of past memories and a face that's both new and old to him
Relationships: Aikawa & Risu (Dorohedoro), Aikawa/Nikaido (Dorohedoro), Asu & Nikaido (Dorohedoro), Kaiman/Nikaido (Dorohedoro)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 21





	1. Recover

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my take on what would've happened if he didn't die right after the detransformation and he wasn't sent to the dimension in his mind with splosh!Ai

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aikawa finds a place to heal up and encounters a fallen devilhood Kawajiri

Seeing her get carried off by the mushroom bastard was hard enough to watch, even more so with the knowledge that he had _just_ rescued her from his captivity not that long ago; with the only true obstacle being her brainwashed resistance, and now he's lost her to him once again. It was all bullshit.

Aikawa coughed up a spatter of blood. His whole body burning with the fungal growth at his abdomen being the focal point for the searing pain that seeped into his limbs.

"Damn- fucking... asshole." He wheezed; a quiver sounding in his strangely smoother pitched voice.

Picking his head up to assess the bundle of mushrooms sprouting from his torso, the bandage around his forehead slipped to block his vision.

"T-the hell?"

A bout of slight confusion pricked at him through his pain and anger as he finally noticed the wrappings, which had suffocatingly clung to his face before, were now loose and free falling around his profile.

Aikawa grit his teeth, neck growing weak from keeping it upright, and let his head drop to the floor. Chest heaving and body trembling, his mind replayed the events that happened just moments ago.

Nikaido... she had jumped in front of him hadn't she, before he could go head-to-head with En:

_"You... your face..."_

Yeah, she had uttered those words... he still remembers, despite the situation at hand, the look of awe and utter shock in her eyes when she looked up at him. His face huh...

Curiously, he reached one unsteady hand up and shakily placed the pads of his fingers against his cheek, stilling at the unfamiliar feeling of soft, _human_ skin.

"Y-you're kidding me." He panted. His face was...

He couldn't help the breathless, sardonic chuckle that escaped him. Of all times for the magic on his head to be dispelled and it had to be right before he's about to die. He's been searching for his true face for years and now he won't even get the chance to look at it. What a cruel joke.

"Ghh!" 

He winced as a sharp sting seized his chest at the abrupt laughter, ribs feeling as if they might just crumble with every strained breath he takes.

He can't die here, in this wreck surrounded by that piece of shit's magic while he holds his best friend hostage doing who knows what with her. No fucking way. He won't be able to go in peace if he allowed that to happen.

It's agonizing trying to lift himself up but he can do it if he takes it slow. He's careful not to make any jostling movements, for fear that he might spill more blood than he already has and shorten what little time he has left before he can actually do anything about it.

He manages to fall into a resting crouch, one hand perched for balance on some stray debris at his side. His head spins briefly, the corners of his vision tunneling with sharp spots of light bursting in the darkness that threatens to blind him as he's overtaken with a dizzy spell.

He freezes, taking a second to catch his breath, and keeps his eyes focused on a single point on the ground; waiting for his sapped energy to rebuild and his sight to return to normal.

If he wants to live he can't fuck this up.

After the dizzy spell completely fades, Aikawa slowly stands and takes in the damage that was done around him; scanning for any openings that lead out of the ruins of the inn.

En really did a number on this place and surely there were casualties, although he couldn't bring himself to care too much. 

"...!!"

Natsuki. That crosseye girl... he almost forgot about her.

Aikawa stopped in his tracks, a fleeting sensation of concern welling up in the pit of his stomach before he brushes it off. He doesn't have the time to be checking for her whereabouts and he's not exactly in the shape to do so either. He only hopes that she had survived and was alright.

But his top priority right now was to take care of himself then head for En's mansion once he's sure he won't keel over and die.

It hurts like hell trying to walk with a mushroom lodged in his thigh though and he stumbles a couple of times making his way to the clearing up ahead but, lucky for him, he's somehow avoided toppling over and busting his ass. 

The dust's thickness gradually begins to dissipate and fizzle to nothing once he's out in the open, letting him see clearer and breathe easier. Being in the middle of all that was taking a toll on his lungs and he sucks in a stuttering inhale of fresh air.

He notes that the area around is relatively barren, with a dirt path stretching far and wide to the places that he wants to be. There's a few trees and sparse houses but nothing like what he needs, namely a hospital or medical station.

Aikawa opts for a trek to one of the semi-dilapidated houses that are close by. At a distance it looks to be in poor shape but it's in good enough condition for it to not be ruled out as a source for anything he could use to help treat his injuries, and from what he could tell it doesn't appear to be lived in but it definitely _was_ at some point, rendering it abandoned. 

Whatever. It's not like he has many options.

Another hacking fit resulting in a long stream of blood pooling onto the dirt below him is just another reminder of that.

-

Up close it's not as bad as he had originally thought and the inside is decently furnished if not a bit worn down, thin layers of dust covers most of the furniture and there's a few cobwebs strewn about but other than that the place is clean for the most part. 

Aikawa wastes no time in limping to where the bathroom is in plain view, and thankfully it's on the first floor; stairs be damned. 

Digging around in the cabinets reveals a collection of toiletries; various medicines, stuff for hygiene, and to his surprise; there even seems to be a few jars of unknown smoke; the labels being too faded for him to tell what type of magic they contain.

"Ah!" 

Pushing aside an array of half empty hair care bottles, he spots an untouched med kit situated in the far back below the sink with all of the normal first aid items packed inside along with more advanced tools and a few magical remedies too.

Carefully settling down onto the toilet seat lid, he let's out a content sigh at having the ache in his joints from constant motion temporarily relieved. What he wouldn't do to just lean back and relax for a minute or ten; the back of a toilet having never felt so comfortable before until now,

But he knows it'd spell a death sentence for him if he waited any longer and as much as he'd like to he can't relax right now, not until he takes care of _this_ ; eyeing the mess at his chest in particular and the spotty trail of blood leading through the doorway.

Like a second nature Aikawa reaches for the knife at his hip in preparation to sever the mushrooms but stops himself after he recalls how well something like _that_ had turned out in a prior experience with Nikaido. They're not just foreign intrusions in the body, they're practically extra _appendages._

Figures. He'll have to work around them then.

Just to be sure, he gives the compartment with the magical remedies a quick once over, disappointed irritation pulling at his features at the prospect of having to do this the old fashioned way when all of the displayed items prove to be useless.

Of course it wouldn't be that easy for him.

Sorting through the advanced stuff; he grabs a vial of antiseptic solution, two packs of hemostatic granules, and a large roll of gauze.

 _'It's strange.'_ He thinks, while he's busy cleansing the lesions with water and rounds of antiseptic.

That he can treat wounds of this caliber with such familiarity. It's true that he's had his fair share of them in fights against sorcerers at the Hole but nothing to this scale and yet he's caring for a damn near fatal injury with practiced ease like he's done this a hundred times over. He wonders if it has something to do with his past.

Sure he's gained back a significantly larger amount of lost memories than he originally had but he knows there's so much more that he doesn't remember. A huge gap of empty space in his brain meant as a 'fill-in-the-blank' for all the years that started from before the alleyway up to now,

And he's not gonna bother allocating whatever imaginary scenarios he could come up with into those blanks either, there's no sense in forcing a square block into a circular hole.

Aikawa shoves his self-introspection aside for now, focusing on rinsing the solution from torn skin. It's unexpected that there's still running water, all things considered.

Having thoroughly cleaned and disinfected the abrasions he starts on the task of molding the granules into the areas where bleeding is the heaviest, effectively cutting off any and all blood flow,

And without the threat of death hanging over his head he idly watches the substance form a gel coagulant around the stems, eyelids growing heavy and breathing slowing down from a rapid speed to a languid pace.

There's no way he's going to be able to hit the road after this. It'd be incredibly stupid of him if he tried. As badly as he wants to get to Nikaido, he won't be able to make it very far while he's this weak and if he's being honest with himself the thought of resting in a bed after this whole fiasco sounds like heaven.

He finishes up tending to his injuries, wrapping whatever other minor cuts and gashes he sees with gauze; tearing off irregular bits and pieces to accommodate for the harder to reach places, and stands with a deep stretch. 

It's awkward. Definitely. Having mushrooms sticking out of him; but it's the best he could do with what he's got and he'll take whatever he can get, anything's better than just kicking the bucket.

As he's about to exit the bathroom and look for the nearest bed to collapse into he stops. That's right. His face is normal again.

He's almost hesitant to turn towards the mirror, to finally see his real self after going so long of living without it. He never thought it'd fill him with so much anxious anticipation and yet here he is, frozen in place with his back to the one thing that could change the way he's been living for good.

Aikawa knows that once he looks at his face it'll all come rushing back to him like a dam being broken by the sheer force of a strong river. His old life, old relationships, who he really is, past experiences; and he's afraid of what he might discover about himself, he can't place where that fear comes from but it has to be there for a reason.

Even so he directs his gaze to the mirror anyway, refusing to let that stop him from knowing what he's spent three years looking for and what he comes face to face with...

Is a clouded surface covered with dark red rust, his reflection wholly obscured by caked on grime and mildew. A shadow of his silhouette seems to be the only thing he can make out.

"Pfeh. What a letdown."

Still though he feels a quiet sense of relief. Maybe he's not ready to see himself just yet. 

That can wait until later, when he's truly prepared, but for now the only thing he wants is to lie down and pass out for a couple of hours.

-

Waking up not even two hours in, from a pleasantly dreamless sleep for once, is something that he would put high up on his list of things that have pissed him off today alone, coming in second to the absolute shit show that occurred at the inn.

If he had to guess from what he's hearing he'd say there's a large, dying bird periodically scuffling about against the gravel outside.

"Ugh, are you serious right now?!" He whined, voice tinged with aggravation and the usual grogginess that comes with being dragged out of a deep slumber. The old mattress he was splayed out on turned out to be pretty comfy too, save for the rogue spring that geared up to poke him whenever he rolled over.

Aikawa buried his face in the bunched up jacket he was using as a make-shift pillow and let out an excessively long groan into the blood stained material. 

Whatever animal that was currently out there in the middle of doing it's best imitation of an opera singer with strep throat had better finish it's crescendo soon or he was going to go insane.

Because really, why now?

He couldn't tell exactly where it was in relation to the room he was in but it was somewhere close to the house and unfortunately loud enough to wake him and from the sound of it, whatever it was wasn't going to shut up.

Breathing out a muffled 'what the fuck', he reluctantly pulled himself away from the bed and hobbled over to the window. He wanted to at least know for sure what the thing disturbing his sleep was.

What he saw outside was not what he was expecting to see at all.

Turns out it wasn't a dying animal but a dying _person,_ a person that looked as if they had been stripped down and brutally flayed. They were crawling around out front, if one could call that crawling; it was more like they were attempting to use whatever strength they could muster to drag themselves along the road.

"Wha- what the hell?!" 

They were clearly pained, not just from the fact that they've been howling for the past few minutes but also from what he can see of the agonized expression on their face. Aikawa has no idea where they came writhing away from or how long they've been like that but something in him couldn't just ignore them and wait for them to eventually pass or, more likely, die.

So he carelessly slips on his shoes and heads out the door over to where the person struggling on the ground was.

It's even more of a grotesque sight up close. Exposed veins and nerves ran across swollen, pink flesh. Who would do something like this?

"Hey! Hey, stop moving! I'm gonna help you, alright?" He reassured, crouching down low so they could see him whilst being mindful not to irritate the mushroom in his thigh.

At the sound of his voice and sudden presence; they did as asked, halting their movement, body quaking from overexertion and pain.

Bleary eyes rolled to glance up at him in surprise. An emotion that was quickly replaced with a flash of recognition. 

"Wha- I-it's you, you're... Kai... man..." They rasped, words trailing off into a broken whisper towards the end of their sentence.

Aikawa startled at that. This person was someone who knew who he was?

"You- you know me?"

In response to his question they nodded weakly, mouth opening as if to continue speaking however nothing but silent croaks and unintelligible syllables came out of their throat, head lolling in a daze before dropping to fall in a harsh thud against the dirt. 

He stays put staring in confused shock at the now unconscious body before him, mentally crossing off a checklist of every person he knows that knows him as Kaiman, which... isn't a lot. He could count the number of well-known acquaintances on one hand. Who could this possibly be?

Sighing, he begins gently maneuvering them so that they're firmly situated to his back, taking care not to accidentally tear any muscle tissue. Whoever they are doesn't matter at the moment, they need medical attention first and foremost.

"Guess I'm going back to the nurse's station."

-

Trying to find something to heal a half dead _guy_ , as he found out, that's been skinned alive is a difficult task and definitely a huge step up from the mushrooms.

He wasn't sure how to go about it at first, a mutilation to this extent with a limited amount of supplies and not even the kind that he needs, what was he supposed to do? The gauze he had used earlier was just a simple cotton roll, not even close to being efficient enough to slow the all-around stream of blood. It seemed pointless to try and do anything with the fragility of a full body sore like this.

Although he really only did a thorough search of the bathroom as that's ordinarily the room where the first aid equipment is kept. He couldn't deny that there could potentially be something of use in one of the other rooms that he hasn't been in yet.

He checked the most obvious choices first; the kitchen, supply closet, and lastly, the master bedroom, which turned out to be the winner. 

It's a goddamn miracle really, that he found a super sized bandage mask in one of the vanity drawers.

Heading back to the room where he left the poor guy tucked into bed, Aikawa rolled the comforter back and set to work attaching the canisters of heavy duty gauze to various points on his body as evenly as possible to ensure that when the string was pulled it would cover the entirety of him. 

He's still curious about who this guy is; it's hard to tell considering he doesn't have skin but those strange black marks encompassing his eyes don't look familiar at all. He briefly wondered if this was a man that _Nikaido_ knows, which would explain how he knows him despite them never meeting before, but that couldn't be it; he only _just_ got his face back and she was taken away by En immediately afterwards, there's no way the guy should be able to identify him.

After placing the last canister, he sets the metal pulley keeping the strings together on the bedside table and unravels the comforter over him.

He'll find out the identity of this man after he wakes up.

It's been a tiring day with all that's happened and he's _severely_ overdue for some much needed rest; so he takes the mattress from the neighboring side room and slides it on the floor next to his new "patient"; intending on staying close in case any problems were to arise.

Aikawa finally lowers himself onto his bed for the day, feeling boneless and wanting the same blissful nothingness from earlier to claim him once again. 

At the very least, there won't be anything else to interrupt him this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few things to note: 
> 
> -Kaiman remembers that his name is Aikawa, that he's a "sorcerer" and that Risu was his friend at school
> 
> -He isn't entirely aware of Kai/Hole yet but has a vague understanding that there's a darkness inside of him 
> 
> -He has Kai's memory of killing Risu 
> 
> -Since he doesn't die here or has his head swapped out, Curse is still unable to leave the pocket dimension


	2. Wager

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kawajiri and Aikawa heal their injuries and successfully sneak into En's.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aikawa's supremely lucky that none of the living guards have seen Kai before

_"Hey Aikawa."_

_Pulling his concentration away from etching doodles in the margins of his notebook he casts a glance over at the man seated beside him; a lilted hum of acknowledgment reverberating from the valve at his mouth, "Hm?"_

_"There's something I'm curious about." His probing inflection startled the idle air between them._

_Aikawa lifts his gaze to look at the other then, interest piqued._

_"Oh? About...?"_

_"I've seen you randomly pop up in different places around the school before, it's like you just appear out of thin air-"_

_"Well maybe I do." He simpered. The sly smile aimed at his new friend going unnoticed beneath the cover of his mask._

_Risu sends an indignant scoff in his direction, "What? Are you saying you have teleportation magic or something?"_

_"Who can say?" He wasn't **trying** to be cryptic, really, but he learned very quickly that teasing Risu was a whole lot of fun._

_"Hey, don't fuck with me! I'm being serious, y'know? How do you do it?"_

_"A magician never reveals his secrets." He responds flippantly._

_Catlike eyes narrowed and a slack posture shifted to lean in close in an attempt to scrutinize his concealed expression. Aikawa thought he looked utterly stupid trying to peer into the eyeholes of his mask._

_Half-twisting his body towards the other, he sharply flicked Risu on the nose with his unoccupied hand as a playful warning to stay out of his personal space._

_"Aggh! Hey!" Risu yelped, flinching back into his chair with a jolt that rocked the desk and sent his still-moving pencil jaggedly skittering across the page._

_"Watch it! I'm working on a masterpiece here!" He complained._

_Risu roughly scrubbed at his nose and eyed his notebook with disdain. Muttering sourly, "Tch. I wouldn't call a plain scribble like that a masterpiece."_

_Aikawa rolled his eyes, using light strokes of his eraser to remove the offending line, and huffed. Drama queen._

_Irritation fading as fast as it had come, the crosseye regarded the sketch with peculiarity._

_"...That's an odd thing to draw..."_

_"Is it?"_

_"Well, I guess it's more like an oddly **specific** thing to draw."_

_What Risu had said was true. It really is just a plain scribble, and he's right about it being oddly specific; Aikawa's not even sure himself why he started drawing this in particular, it was mainly out of a strange impulse, and his simple depiction of the object itself was giving him an unidentifiable buzz in the back of his head, something that puzzled him._

_"That's usually how it is with art, stupid."_

_But he did have to wonder if there was no underlying meaning behind it. The weird feeling he got from looking at it told him otherwise and it made him anxious._

_He doesn't like thinking about these kinds of things though, and with the frequency at which they appear to intrude on his peace of mind, he's gotten good at evading their attempts at inhibition._

_Thankfully, any oncoming worries were brushed away before they could take hold at the piercing sound of the lunchtime bell. Serving as a reminder that he, tragically, hasn't had anything to eat since breakfast that morning._

_Dropping his pencil, Aikawa excitedly tugged at Risu's cufflink to pull him to a stand, snorting at his ungraceful stagger._

_"Time to raid the kitchen!" He proclaimed, already attempting to drag him towards the door._

_"Wha- Huh?!" Risu sputtered, a flabbergasted look planted firmly on his face._

_Not allowing his friend the courtesy of processing his statement. Aikawa smacked a hand against his back and effectively pushed him forward._

_With their things still scattered around haphazardly and Risu struggling to keep up with his sudden burst of energy, Aikawa's notebook, having been left splayed open on his temporarily abandoned desk, displayed what appeared to be a drawing of an **eight ball**._

-

Aikawa woke with a start, staring in a half-dazed state at the rustic ceiling above him. It was... another memory. They usually came back to him after he's fallen asleep, appearing in the form of dreams.

So much for that blissful nothingness he was hoping for.

The memory was a pleasant one on the surface, initially filling him with a drowsy warmth; recalling Risu's brusque personality and their good-natured banter, but the unwelcome glint of a knife dyed red under an evening sun is quick to chase away any semblance of positive feelings it gave him.

Something dreadful surged in him at that and he was wide awake, a heavy knot forming in the pit of his throat and his eyes burning with the threat of tears.

Shooting up in bed, Aikawa roughly shoved the recollection back down into the recesses of his mind and, much to his relief, the sting emanating from his abdomen at the harsh movement and the shifting of fabric from the bed next to him pulled his attention elsewhere, grounding him.

"Uggh." Voicing his discomfort, his unexpected guest sluggishly stirred.

Grateful for the distraction, Aikawa carefully stands and unravels the stiffness in his joints. Gripping the sides of his jacket with the intention of zipping it closed and groaning in frustration when both ends meet at opposing sides of a mushroom cluster, the cold draft in the room pulling a shiver out of him. Fuck En.

If anything the minor inconveniences that come with having mushrooms growing out of him irritated him more than the resulting damage on his body from their presence.

"Ngh, where?-" 

He looks over to where the other is laid up, watching tired eyes still heavy with fatigue blink open to survey the surrounding area with confusion before landing on him. 

"Ah, Kaiman, I see..." The man croaks; rough in pitch no doubt from the strain that was put on it earlier. Come to think of it...

Aikawa casts a short glance over to the window where the blue hue of twilight shines through the glass, giving off just enough light to illuminate the room in muted colors. Seems like they slept through the rest of the evening yesterday.

It hasn't reached dawn yet so he has plenty of time to get his shit together and start making headway for the city where En's place resides but first;

Settling into the chair beside the bedside table he takes the bandage pulley and settles it into his lap in preparation to release the gauze inside, he'll wait a few more minutes until the man wakes up a bit more.

"Where are we?" He asks.

"Just an abandoned house, I was here before I found you outside." Aikawa answers; fingers lazily toying with the metal latch. The curious question of who he is and how he knows him and is able to identify him as Kaiman despite no longer having his lizard head sweeps to the forefront of his mind

Before the other could ask another question he speaks up, vocalizing his thoughts "Who are you anyway? You don't seem familiar."

A disconsolate sigh spills from his lips, "You've met me before... although I was in a different form then so it's only natural you don't recognize me."

"Different form?" He inquires.

"I was the devil, Asu, that helped you and Nikaido in the church."

"Wha- That was you?! What the hell happened? Why are you like this...?" He gestured vaguely to the current state of the supposed devil from before, never would he have been able to make the connection.

"I was... renounced from devilhood. As you can see, this is the result of that." 

He knows it's possible to be demoted back to former sorcerer status but he didn't know something as gruesome as this would happen because of it.

Of course being "stripped" of devilhood wouldn't only be in the metaphorical sense, he thinks.

But for what reason was he demoted? A whisper of a conversation at some point in his past rings in his head, inexcusable acts of transgression were cause for a permanent downgrade. Could it be...?

"Wait, was it because you helped us?"

His suspicion was confirmed with a solemn nod as he continued, "Yes but even so, I don't regret it in the slightest..." A beat of brief silence filled the air, "...Nikaido was captured by En wasn't she?"

Hearing it stated out loud in the open; Aikawa reflexively clenches his jaw in anger, shoulders tensing up in quiet seething. He sees a flash of her face as she's taken, devastation warping her normally endearing features. He can still feel her clutching at the collar of his shirt to try and remain with him before he could fall away from her.

Thinking about it puts him in low spirits, he hates the moments where she looks like that; when she's not smiling brightly or shining with fierce determination, and he'd never seen her so distraught until then. Not even back when he found her outside with a mushroom sprouting from her back. 

"I figured as much- oh!" Asu gasps, snapping Aikawa out of his rumination. His eyes were fixated on En's little send-off "presents." Was he only just now noticing them?

"I'm surprised you survived an attack from En."

"Yeah, well, I'm not exactly easy to kill." Aikawa scoffs in response, remembering the incident with the heart guy. He still has no clue how or why his head grew back, it could've been an extra effect of the lizard magic on his body but- 

".....Hold on! How did you know I was Kaiman anyway? You've never seen my real face before until now!"

"Ah... I only assumed you were since you were near the mushroom-related catastrophe close by."

"You- So you were just guessing that it was me...?"

"I suppose so, yes."

Aikawa balked, staring holes into him. Unbelievable, this guy is; although his guess did turn out to be right if it had actually been someone else... he was definitely lucky that it was him he'd ran into, _crawled_ into actually.

"In any case," Asu started, slowly pushing himself up. "We should be going soon; the longer Nikaido stays with En the faster his contract will regrow inside of her and she'll fall under his control once again."

A brainwashed Nikaido is _not_ something he wants to have another encounter with if he can help it, he barely made it out alive the last time. 

Short stinging pangs beat at his temples as he suddenly recalls a foggy memory of exactly how he managed to come out of that situation; a pained cry of his name, a bloody knife, the gory sound of a partnership organ falling to the ground.

"Alright then," Aikawa abruptly stands, willing the strange memory away, and readies the pulley. "I'm gonna pull the latch, okay?"

Asu nods and throws his legs over the bed with a grimace before shakily bringing himself to his feet, giving him the signal to release the gauze.

With a flick of his wrist and a strong yank, the attached canisters shatter and a plume of white smoke surrounds them. 

He coughs violently, scowling at the ache in his lungs, and takes in the sight of a now freshly bandaged Asu. The mask covered the entirety of him and there seemed to be a thin sheen of an unknown substance coating the gauze; the clinical scent now permeating the air and the luminescent specks flying off of them revealed it to be some type of magical medicine.

Asu breathed a muffled sigh of relief, "Thank you, I feel much better. Now,"

Shuffling over to the center of the room, he gestures towards Aikawa's own relatively untreated injuries.

"Before we head to En's mansion we need to do something about those mushrooms."

"There's nothing here that'll help, I already searched this entire place."

"That's fine. I'll take you to the smoke shop, it's still sanctioned off to the public so we should be able to get inside with no problem. There'll be jars of healing magic there that'll remove them." He explained.

"That's all well and good but shouldn't we look for some kind of vehicle that'll actually get us there first?"

He can't imagine having to walk all that way and they can't exactly take their sweet time right now, not while Nikaido's being held captive.

"No need for that."

Aikawa quirks a brow in confusion, "Do you... have some other way in mind?"

"I do indeed." He confirms. "Just grab hold of my arm."

\--

The instant scenery change was jarring to say the least; one second they're standing in the middle of a dusty room and the next they're in the back of what looks like a ransacked store with countless amounts of jars and a strange machine situated near the wall.

_Teleportation magic, huh?_

Aikawa snorts at that and languidly paces around while Asu busies himself with scanning through the jars for a suitably powerful type of healing magic.

By the counter is an open tree branch partition with a large, irregular hole in the very middle. He raises himself up onto his tiptoes to peer over to the other side where a white outline in the shape of a body and a few number markers rest on the floor.

"Looks like _someone_ got their ass handed to them." He mutters quietly to himself

Not quietly enough apparently as Asu immediately throws a casual response at him over his shoulder, "Yes, this would be the result of Nikaido's prior trip here." 

"Nikaido's the one who did this!? That explains it..." He trails off. He's curious about her reasons for doing something like this though.

"Say... why'd she kick the shit out of the clerk that runs this place?" 

"For the money; in order to meet with a devil there's a fee that needs to be payed beforehand and before I was renounced she came to see me. This-" Asu waves a hand behind him at the missing cash drawer off to the side, "is most likely where she got it from."

"So what'd she want to see you for? It must've been something important if she robbed and killed a guy to get the money for it." 

_Because she usually doesn't do shit like that without a damn good reason._

"She came to ask me a few questions, about you specifically."

There's no doubt in his mind that she had been searching for answers about the alleyway incident, the person who had turned him into a lizard and "killed" him.

"...What kind of questions?"

"Why so nosy? You know what's talked about in a special meeting between sorcerer and devil is supposed to remain private."

Aikawa rolled his eyes. There's no way that isn't some bullshit that he just made up.

"You're not a devil anymore." He replies under his breath slyly.

Asu, having heard him, whips his head around in his direction and mockingly cups the place where his ear should be, pure menace dripping from his voice "Oh? I'm sorry, come again?"

"What? I didn't say anything..."

Sending him one last glare through the holes in the mask, he turns back around to continue rummaging through the cabinets and shelves. 

He'll have to let it go for now, if he tries to pry further it'll only start a back and forth argument. He can always find out from Nikaido later anyway.

"Aha, here we go!" Asu exclaims.

In his hand is a newly obtained bottle with a label that has a picture of an unknown sorcerer on it along with a basic, if not a bit over the top, description of the magic type and how strong the magic in question is.

"This should do the trick, it's from one of the elites." 

He walks over to him, the loose bandage hanging from his head swaying ridiculously, and aims the jar at his torso before popping open the lid; a flurry of black washes over him immediately. He can feel a revitalizing sensation spread through his body from the inside out as the mushrooms dissolve into nothing, and broken tissue is reformed, sealing his wounds shut. 

Aikawa looks down at himself, no longer an eye-sore and feeling refreshed however the ripped fabric in his clothes exposing his skin has him scowling; the holes at his thigh and upper arm aren't too noticeable but his shirt might as well be a crop top at this point.

Unwinding and tossing aside the gauze in a random corner, he zips up his jacket to hide the fact that his torso is now on full display.

"Now that that's taken care of... let's get going." Asu states, holding his arm out for him to grab onto.

"You got it Michelin man." He jests; ignoring the scandalized look the other sends him.

"You sure have a lot of nerve." Is the last thing he says before the two of them disappear, leaving behind an empty shop with the only trace of their presence being the bloody bandages bundled in the shadows and an empty jar of healing smoke still toiling around on the floor.

\--

En's mansion, he decides, is the epitome of excessive.

Gaudy pictures and expensive looking busts and statues decorate the corridor and on the walls an occasional framed photo of what he assumes are the En family members and staff is thrown into the mix of art-snob portraits.

"Really..." He deadpans, staring down a series of paintings depicting En in various types of clothing surrounded by mushrooms; He stops at one in particular featuring him in a toga and tainia while a group of humanoid mushrooms reach for him.

"Did the mushroom obsession come _before_ or _after_ he found out what kind of magic he has?" He calls to Asu up ahead.

"Normally I'd assume after, but I heard talk among the devils that he was practically born with it." 

"Jeez." He mumbles.

Aikawa foregoes gawking at En's questionable taste in decor and jogs to catch up with Asu, falling into step with the shorter man.

Fortunately when they teleported inside there were no guards around.

The only problem is that he has no idea where Nikaido could be and with how big this place is, actually finding anyone inside of it seems damn near impossible.

With the way Asu is leading him through the twists and turns of the halls though, he figures that he must have at least a general idea of the layout and where En is holding her.

"You know where she is?" 

"I do, for the most part. There's a secret passage hidden somewhere in the walls and it's around this area, I believe it's where she's at." Asu states, carefully feeling around for any notches.

 _Nikaido_... _I won't let that bastard take you away again, I swear it._

No matter who he has to go through, even if he has to go against En for a second time, he'll face them head on for _her_ sake.

"I got it!"

A resounding click follows Asu's hushed exclamation and the scraping of drywall against marble echoes down the corridor revealing the entrance to what looks like a dimly lit cave. 

She should be down there somewhere. He has to apologize... when he sees her. For not being careful enough while they were traveling, letting his past memories get the better of him, for failing to protect her...

"Alright, let's-"

"H-hey, you two aren't supposed to be in here!" 

Startled, their heads snap towards the source of the voice and to their left a ways away is a small group of guards, postures stiff in defense and clear hostility;

And just when he thought this was gonna be a smooth search and rescue.

Aikawa notes Asu's panic filled complaints and his rigid stance frozen in a delayed fight or flight reflex, it's obvious that his magic isn't meant for combat.

_I don't even know what kind of magic **I** have yet._

As if it matters though. He's always been able to hold his own even against sorcerers, whether he knew he was one of them himself or not, and that hasn't changed.

Physical combat is his go-to anyway, and he _has_ been itching for another fight ever since the inn.

Aikawa moves to stand in front of Asu, "Quit panicking. I'll handle this."

Gripping the handle of his knife he swiftly draws it from the holster at his hip, brandishing it with practiced dexterity.

The distance between them and the guards starts to dwindle fast, their iron staves wielded without a second's hesitation to start attacking the moment they're within arms reach.

"Kaiman! They're going to alert En and the cleaners-"

"No, they won't." He interrupts,

Face shining in amusement and determination, he twirls the knife between his fingers with breakneck speed and finishes in a voice filled with conviction, "I won't give them the chance."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hit a bit of a writers block while I was writing the latter portion of this chapter but hopefully the quality didn't go down too much. 
> 
> The next chapter's going to finally introduce my girl, Nikaido and focus on their escape attempt.


End file.
